Max the Wood Scout
by Kamije Celeek
Summary: AU: Max didn't want to be a Wood Scout, but he wasn't really given a choice. It was the camp his parents picked, out of every other camp on Lake Lilac. If only he wasn't the rookie...


**An AU I've seen in passing is one where Neil and Max are in the Wood Scouts and Nikki is a die-hard Flower Scout. In this same AU, Ered and Nerris are alongside Nikki and Nurf is alongside Neil and Max. This could also be part of the AU where David leads the Wood Scouts and Gwen leads the Flower Scouts, so it is. As a result, the counselors at Camp Campbell are my twin OCs, Rosemary and Joseph. Rosemary is the happy, no-swearing-please-though-I-won't-punish-you-for-it-but-I'll-swear-like-a-sailor-if-you-touch-my-kids-or-push-me counselor while her brother doesn't give a shit. They're Cameron Campbell's kids, which is the only reason Joseph was even hired. The lead three campers at Camp Campbell are now Sasha, Pikeman, and Snake, with Petrol as the camp bully and Erin and Tabii as the other female campers.**

 **Enjoy!**

"And _don't_ back down again! You hear me, Acharya?"

Max nodded wordlessly at Neil, his throat dry and not allowing him to speak.

"Good. Now get some sleep, you goddamn rookie."

The head Wood Scout headed off and Max scrambled towards his tent. He landed on his bed and tugged Mr. Honey Nuts out from under his pillow, hugging the beat-up old bear as hard as he could. As usual, he found himself wishing he could've gone to _any other_ camp, but no. According to his parents, he was an 'ungrateful, selfish, pansy-ass little bastard who needed to learn respect and discipline'. Hence why he was with the Wood Scouts.

He was the rookie, their sole new recruit, so all the veterans focused on him for their hazing and ragging on the new guy. God, he _wished_ that's all it was. Neil seemed to have a particular hatred for him for no apparent reason, and Nurf and Jermy just went along with whatever Neil said. They never took it so far as to seriously injure him, but he had more than a few bruises and scrapes that normal kids didn't get at summer camp. Then again, normal kids didn't hold onto stuffed animals when they were ten years old.

 _I'm a fucking loser._

He let himself drift off to sleep, where he was safe. Safe from bad memories, safe from Neil, safe from the fact that he wasn't what his parents wanted. The next thing he knew, he was being dumped onto the ground.

"Up and at 'em, rookie!" Neil's voice commanded. Max stood at attention. "Now, we found another new recruit last night, so be prepared to not be the bottom man on the totem pole anymore."

Max breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come meet him."

The Indian boy followed Neil to where they'd kept the new Wood Scout overnight.

"…hitting me?!" a voice complained. The boy in the chair was tied up and he had bright red hair, the same color as Scoutmaster David's.

"That's enough, Nurf!" Neil barked to the large boy. "We don't want to break him yet."

"Who the hell are you?!" the new recruit spat.

"Neil Kramer, Senior Wood Scout, Troop 818. You're our newest recruit, Mr.…?"

"Pikeman. Eddie Pikeman."

"Mr. Pikeman. Acharya!"

"Yes, sir?" Max asked fearfully.

"Why don't you show our recruit to his tent? He'll be sharing with you, after all."

"Yes, sir." Max helped the kid off the chair and started leading him towards the tents.

"You don't seem like a Wood Scout," commented Eddie as they walked.

"Shut up and keep your head down. Don't make eye contact."

"God, what is this—a horror game?"

After that comment, Eddie shut up and kept following Max until they reached the tent.

"Your bunk's on the left," Max instructed. "Keep your hands off my stuff."

"Hey, what happened to my friends?"

"Your friends?"

"That Nurf kid—he threw Sasha overboard and Snake just disappeared."

"Overboard? Wait, where did you come from?"

"Camp Campbell, across the lake. We were trying to escape by boat and I thought Nurf would help us, but…"

"Yeah, enrollment's at an all-time low," Max sighed. "He threw Sasha overboard because we're a boys' organization. As for Snake… I have no idea. Two recruits would've been better than one. Take some of the pressure off me."

Eddie sat down on the bunk and observed the kid. He was smaller than most of the Wood Scouts he'd seen, and he had several visible bruises.

"I can't believe you guys kidnap campers. When Rosemary finds out we're missing, she's going to go on a full-scale manhunt to find us."

"Who's Rosemary?"

"One of our counselors. If something's wrong at camp, she's usually the first to know and the most… _determined_ to set things right. Joseph couldn't care less."

That… sounded nice, actually. Much better than Scoutmaster David and the other Wood Scouts, who were determined to make Max toughen up.

A voice cut through the normal sound of the camp.

"Which one of you bastards is the one who kidnapped my kids?!"

"And here comes Rosemary," Eddie chuckled. "She's _pissed_."

"Ma'am, please calm down," Max could hear Neil saying.

"No! I want Eddie brought back here, now!"

"After he _ran away_?"

"It's a normal thing he does! Now where is he?"

"Acharya! Bring out the new rookie!"

"Dammit," Max muttered, untying Eddie and bringing him out.

The woman who had stormed into the camp and demanded her camper back was tall, with long, dark brown hair and a skin tone a few shades lighter than Max's own sun-shade. She wore a green T-shirt and a pair of denim shorts with hiking boots. Her expression went from angry to relieved as soon as she laid her dark green eyes on Eddie.

"Eddie! Thank God!" She knelt and checked him over. "You're okay. A little banged up, but okay."

"How'd you find me?"

"Sasha and Snake came back to camp about half an hour ago and told me the Wood Scouts kidnapped you."

"So they're okay?"

"Yeah. Apparently they ended up over by the Flower Scouts." She grabbed his hand. "Let's go."

She led Eddie out of the camp and he flipped them off as he left. Max watched and then realized what Eddie leaving meant.

 _Aw, shit_.

"Guess this means you're bottom again, Acharya," sneered Neil. "Get on the ropes course! I want you down under five minutes!"

"Yes, sir."

 **And that's our introduction to how this story works. In short, Neil is a power-mad asshole, Nurf is the muscle, and Max is the punching bag. You know, even in the regular universe, our precious boy can't fight for shit. Also, yes, his last name is Acharya. I looked up common Indian last names and that was one on the list. It's the last name I give him in all my fanfics.**

 **So long and thanks for all the fish!**


End file.
